A (Fairly) Positive Update

It looks like I finally got a bit of regular work. I say “looks like” because I’m still not quite sure the two clients in question are going to continue hiring me like they claim. I don’t think one has the money and the other is saying one thing and doing another, but I’ve gotten more work in the past week that in a while so it’s a good start.

I also didn’t get evicted yet, so I figure I’m still good for another month. They still haven’t filled the empty room in my apartment space either, which means I’m pretty sure I can make a case for my stay of execution until they’re able to find someone else.

Also my writing is back on point. I feel like I’ve found my mojo again, and could be writing better than ever before – certainly better than I was last month or even a couple weeks ago. The words come with ease and clients are raving, using words like “outstanding” and “will use again”. I even got one from word-of-mouth already.

On the unfortunate side, I have no motivation to write on this blog right now. Reddit’s moderators are being assholes and removing my posts. The 2000 word Experiment Case article has 6 views in eight days and my 1000 word review of Orphan Black has 9 views in the last two days, and 7 of those came in the few minutes it was on Reddit before the post was taken down. Part 2 of Perilous Heights has less than half the views of part 1, which seems like a pretty clear sign to me it’s not good.

So for now I’m not sure how I’m going to proceed with the blog. It doesn’t make any sense for me to prioritize it anywhere close to paid work. Even after attracting a couple thousand people with the KotOR articles, no one felt the writing was worth commenting on – and clearly not worth coming back.

I’ll continue as I feel the personal need to do so. If you want something in particular, speak up. Cause silence says you want nothing.

Hell, a simple blog article I wrote for a client got more views than my last few posts combined and was commented on in the last few days. And that site is plastered with ads with a very random name that isn’t audience-friendly.

3 thoughts on “A (Fairly) Positive Update”

Well, I found the Experiment post amusing, for what it’s worth. Didn’t have much to say about it, but I deemed it interesting and well written.

And I did read the second KotOR post, but again, didn’t feel like I had anything good enough to add to that, given that I had offered my opinions in the first post.

Reddit would definitely give you more visibility, so I can understand your frustration with your posts being taken down. I feel like, rather than commenting on the moderators’ behaviour, you’d have better luck contacting them directly. But there’s a good chance you already did that and the advice is moot.

Whatever your feelings are, by the way, I would suggest you do not stop writing, at least until you have a more solid job security. From what I gather reading the “about” of the site, this blog serves as your self advertising as well as being a memento of sorts. As you say, not a priority compared to paid job, but far from useless anyway.

If the contents are irrelevant to you, maybe pursuing the relative success of the KotOR entries might be wise? Reviewing gaming classics would probably yeld more of an audience than many other options and, assuming you have the time for it, could prove enjoyable as well.

I did contact the mods and was told my articles are spam, because the literal definition of spam doesn’t count for Reddit and apparently only really well known, corporate-run sites are allowed to post their information.

The second part of the post came from irritation. Drawn out posts like those don’t just materialize out of nowhere. It takes time and effort, and unfortunately I don’t “Write for me”. I’m not going to go back and read what I wrote. I write things to be read and it’s just really annoying to feel like I spent hours on something just to have it waste away unread.

Maybe it’s my fault for taking a lack of feedback and traffic as negative criticism. But it’s like they say, apathy is worse than outright hatred.

I’d be happy to write more gaming content – thinking about a CS:GO article idea – but for the most part I’m not really sure what on. I can’t review a game I haven’t played in years, or at least review it with the same sort of quality as the KotOR articles.

Those articles did so well because they have an occult niche following and the Reddit mods left my post alone. “Self promotion” automatically labels you as an asshole and the best advice for building an audience is to go back in time and start a site in 2005.

Like I said, I fully intend to keep writing here. It’s just that the lack of motivation inhibits consistency.